GFE in RFCs

1. Tom LeFebvre ESRL/Global Systems Division GFE in RFCs

2. Overview • History • GFE Components • Strengths and Weaknesses • Performance Issues • Tools • Climatology • Inter-site Coordination

3. GFE History • Project started in 1992 • Worked closely with NWS field forecasters • Rapid Prototype Project started in 1999 • Prototype software delivered to the field

4. GFE Components (GFESuite) • GFE primarily a grid editor • GFE software also generates products • NWS Legacy Text Products • Graphics • Images (PNG) • Digital (netCDF, AsciiGrid)

5. Other GFESuite Components • ifpInit – Converts model 3-D cubes into sensible surface weather elements • Inter-site Coordination (ISC) - Moves gridded data between sites to enhance collaboration • Graphical Hazards Generator (GHG) – Makes graphical versions of long-fused watches/warnings and formats text products with VTEC codes

6. GFESuite - Strengths • Highly configurable / flexible • Weather elements • Domain / Projection / Resolution • User Interface • Products • Fully Programmable Framework (SmartTools) • Interpretive language (Python) • Easy to learn and use, very powerful • Over 500 tools in the Smart Tool Repository

7. GFESuite - Weaknesses • Architected more than 15 years ago • Core is C++ based • Compiled language, difficult to maintain • Performs inefficiently for some operations (e.g., ISC) • ifpServer is a bottleneck GFE ifpInit ifpInit GFE ifpServer Text Formatter GFE ISC

8. Performance Issues • GFE was originally designed for a 35 x 35 grid (20km) 1225 gridpoints • WFOs now running at ~300x300 domain (2.5km) at most offices ~90,000 gridpoints • RFCs want ~500x500 grid (2.5km) 250,000 grid points!

9. AWIPS ifpInit Statistics

10. Performance (cont.) • Bottom Line: 250K grid won’t work on AWIPS hardware • Not enough memory (4Gb) • CPUs not fast enough

11. Performance (cont.) • However, better hardware exists! • 64 dual core, dual xeon (4 processors) • 8 Gb memory Note: 64-bit 250K test used all 8GB and required 250Mb of swap space

12. Performance (cont.) • Recommendation: • Use 64-bit processors (minimum of 4) • 12 Gb memory • Option: Faster CPUs • Limited testing demonstrated this hardware will likely support an RFC domain of ~250K grid points

13. Performance (cont.) • Text Formatters also exhibited performance problems • Hundreds of basins sampled • ~40 grids (6 hourly for 10 days) • But…formatter logic is simple (just too many basins) Gridded Database C++ Samplers Text Formatter Data structures must be copied for every sample

14. Performance (cont.) • Possible Formatter Solution: • Rewrite formatters in Python as SmartTools • Avoid C++ sampling • RFC products generally simple formats and don’t require text formatter infrastructure • Potentially much better performance

15. Tools • GFE SmartTools perform reasonably well even on a 250K grid point domain • AWIPS hardware ~ 2 seconds per grid • 64-bit hardware < 1 second per grid

16. Precipitation Climatology • GFE contains monthly climatological data sets (CONUS only) • PRISM and NCDC • Precipitation • Maximum Temperature • Minimum Temperature • Spatial resolution: 4km for both PRISM and NCDC • Baseline tools calculate daily values using spline technique.

17. Precipitation Climatology PRISM Precip.

18. Inter-site Coordination • ISC will work at RFCs • Small amount of configuration at both RFCs and WFOs • Problem: RFC domains overlap with WFO domains • Solution: SmartTools that copy ISC grids into RFC forecast grids

19. Conclusions • RFCs present challenges for GFESuite software • Most, if not all, problems can be solved with new hardware and new software • Amount of software required is relatively small • Some configuration • A few tools to: • Incorporate climatology in tools • Assimilate ISC data into the forecast • Implement text formatters as SmartTools